William and Elizebeth Smith Friedman were amongst the world’s foremost codebreakers in the 20th century, inventing the science of cryptography. In 1971, Elizebeth accompanied the moving of their library, photos, and private papers to the George C. Marshall Foundation, where their collections remain amongst the most popular in the Foundation archives.
In November, Elizebeth Smith Friedman’s great-nephew, Steve, and his wife, Amy, came to visit. They brought with them many family photos and a lot of information. The discovery was wonderful! We have also begun digitization of additional Friedman family photos from William and Elizebeth’s son, John Ramsay Friedman. So this blog is a photo fest of some previously unseen photos. Enjoy!
There were photos of William and Elizebeth.
There were some of William or Elizebeth with their children, Barbara and John Ramsay.
Some photos of the children alone:
Here’s one of the whole family, at Barbara’s graduation from Radcliffe in 1946:
Other photos are of Elizebeth or William alone.
And finally, this photo, which may well be the ONLY one of Elizebeth in pants, and dungarees, yet!
I hope you have enjoyed these photos. There are many more in their collections! See more photos here.
Before becoming director of library and archives at the George C. Marshall Foundation, Melissa was an academic librarian specializing in history. She and her husband, John, have three grown children, and live in Rockbridge County with three large rescue dogs. Melissa is known as the happiest librarian in the world! Keep up with her @MelissasLibrary.